Daytona 500: The Epic Photo Finish & More Of The Race’s Best Moments

NASCAR’s the Daytona 500 Sprint Cup is here! But putting the motor-racing to one side, there’s a lot more to the broadcast than meets the eye. Lucky for you, we’ve rounded up the best bits from the event that you can check out by clicking right here!

As is with almost every sporting event these days, there was a strong celebrity presence in the audience. Step-forward Gerard Butler, 46, who took on the proceedings of Grand Marshal for this year’s Daytona 500. He got to utter the famous words, “Drivers, start your engines” and he looked delighted to have been there screaming the famous words and entertaining the crowd.

As for the race itself, it was a thrill a minute. Dale managed to wrestle the lead early on from Chase from Lap 5. After a poor start, Chase dropped to third behind Joey as his inexperience began to settle in.

Then, horror struck for the pole leader Chase, who crashed out at Lap 20 on the 4th turn, which was described as “hot” by the commentators. He swerved into the grass and the ripped the nose off his car. He was out!

Jimmie Johnson started to gain his own advantage in the race and was leading from lap 64 after Denny Hamlin had led from lap 24. However, his lead was cut short just a few laps later and Kyle Busch, the defending Sprint Cup champion, as the lead just kept changing.

In Lap 96, nearly halfway through the big accident of the day occurred between Chris Buescher and Matthew DiBenedetto, who got a bit loose on a turn and crashed into Chris and ended both their days in spectacular fashion. The wrecks of the cars afterwards were a real sight!

Crowd and fan favorite Dale’s race came to a spectacular end on Lap 170, when he spun out, like Chase, of the race after creeping into 5th spot and mounting a late challenge for the top position.

The ending though, now that was a talking point! It was the probably the closest finish in Daytona 500 EVER. Somehow, by a matter of inches, Denny, who had led in the majority of the laps in the race, who won the day!

Can you believe Denny ended up being the victor? I mean, it was surprising seeing Chase crash out of the race right at the beginning.

HollywoodLifers, what was your favorite moment about the Daytona 500? Do you think the right driver won in the end? Sound off to us below!